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Welcome to the training on Specimen Collection provided by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
The goal of this module is to equip Texas Health Steps providers and others to implement requirements and best practices for specimen collection and handling in a clinical office setting.
Target Audience
Texas Health Steps providers and other interested health-care professionals.
Specific Learning Objectives
After completing the activities of this module, you will be able to:
- Apply the requirements of the Texas Health Steps Periodicity Schedule to conduct laboratory testing as part of preventive medical checkups for patients birth through 20 years.
- Distinguish between Texas Health Steps laboratory tests that must be performed by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Laboratory and those that may be processed by a laboratory of the provider's choice.
- Evaluate common errors that may cause specimens to be rejected for testing or may lead to inaccurate results.
- Specify the blood collection devices and techniques that should be employed for various blood tests for children of different ages.
- Interpret the DSHS Laboratory's specimen submission requirements and reporting protocols.
Please note this module expires on 11/21/2020.
This module was released on 11/21/2017.
Accreditation Statement
Continuing Medical Education
The Texas Department of State Health Services, Continuing Education Service is accredited by the Texas Medical Association to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Texas Department of State Health Services, Continuing Education Service designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Continuing Nursing Education
The Texas Department of State Health Services, Continuing Education Service is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. The Texas Department of State Health Services, Continuing Education Service has awarded 1.00 contact hour(s) of Continuing Nursing Education.
Certificate of Attendance
The Texas Department of State Health Services, Continuing Education Service has designated 1.00 hour(s) for attendance.
One of the requirements of continuing education is disclosure of the following information to the learner:
- Notice of requirements for successful completion of continuing education activity. To receive continuing education credit the learner must successfully complete the following activities:
- Create a Texas Health Steps account.
- Complete on-line registration process.
- Thoroughly read the content of the module.
- Complete the on-line examination.
- Complete the evaluation.
- Commercial Support.
The THSTEPS Web-based Continuing Education Series has received no commercial support.
- Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships.
The THSTEPS Continuing Education Planning Committee and the authors of these modules have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.
- Non-Endorsement Statement.
Accredited status does not imply endorsement of any commercial products or services by the Department of State Health Services, Continuing Education Service; Texas Medical Association; or American Nurse Credentialing Center.
- Off-Label Use.
Using a disclosure review process, the THSTEPS Continuing Education Planning Committee has examined documents and has concluded that the authors of these modules have not included content that discusses off-label use (use of products for a purpose other than that for which they were approved by the Food and Drug Administration).
The following are policies and definitions of terms related to continuing education disclosure:
The intent of disclosure is to allow Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Continuing Education Service the opportunity to resolve any potential conflicts of interest to assure balance, independence, objectivity and scientific rigor in all of its Continuing Education activities.
All faculty, planners, speakers and authors of Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Continuing Education Service sponsored activities are expected to disclose to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Continuing Education Service any relevant financial, relationships with any commercial or personal interest that produces health care goods or services concerned with the content of an educational presentation. Faculty, planners, speakers and authors must also disclose where there are any other potentially biasing relationships of a professional or personal nature.
Glossary of Terms
Conflict of Interest: Circumstances create a conflict of interest when an individual has an opportunity to affect Continuing Education content about products or services of a commercial interest with which she/he has a financial relationship or where there are any other potentially biasing relationships of a professional or personal nature.
Commercial Interest: Any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.
Financial Relationships: Those relationships in which the individual benefits by receiving a salary, royalty, intellectual property rights, consulting fee, honoraria, ownership interest (e.g., stocks, stock options or other ownership interest, excluding diversified mutual funds), or other financial benefit. Financial benefits are usually associated with roles such as employment, management position, independent contractor (including contracted research), consulting, teaching, membership on advisory committees or review panels, board membership, and other activities for which remuneration is received or expected. Relevant financial relationships would include those within the past 12 months of the person involved in the activity and a spouse or partner. Relevant financial relationships of your spouse or partner are those of which you are aware at the time of this disclosure.
Off Label: Using products for a purpose other that that for which it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Browser Requirements
Texas Health Steps courses are best viewed using a current browser. If you are using an out-of-date browser or a version of Internet Explorer less than 11, lesson progress and interactive features may not function properly.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCO video covering finger stick collection for blood lead specimens.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Health Steps Provider Information web page.
- Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Health Steps Periodicity Schedule.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Laboratory Services.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Notifiable Conditions web page.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Disease Reporting web page.
- Texas Department of State Health Services Laboratory, Texas Health Steps: Specimen Collection and Handling.
Texas Department of State Health Services, LabGuides Tutorials:
- Texas Health Steps Fingerstick Blood Specimen Collection.
- Texas Health Steps Venipuncture Blood Specimen Collection.
- Packaging and Shipping Blood Tubes.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas laws requiring the reporting of blood lead levels in children and adults.
- Texas Childhood Blood Lead Screening Guidelines, 2015. The download includes an algorithm for blood lead level screening, maps with targeted areas by ZIP code, and a lead risk questionnaire.
- Texas Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (TXCLPPP).
- Texas Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (TXCLPPP) flowchart titled Pb-109: Reference for Blood Lead Retesting and Medical Case Management for determining when follow-up blood lead testing is necessary. The flowchart includes schedules for obtaining a diagnostic venous specimen, for follow-up venous blood lead testing, and for medical case management for children with diagnostic elevated blood lead levels.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Health Steps a Risk-Based Guidance Tool to assist health-care providers in screening children and adolescents.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Adolescent Health: A Guide for Providers.
- Texas Department of State Health Services adolescent health care resources web page.
Tips to help children and families understand and tolerate blood draws:
- Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas. (2017). 5 Tips to Make a Blood Draw Easier for a Child.
- The Hospital for Sick Children. (2017). Blood Work: Helping Your Child Get Ready.
- University of Cincinnati Health Laboratory policy SC027.2: Venipuncture, Pediatric.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Standard Precautions for All Patient Care.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). CDC Guidelines for Collecting and Handling Blood Lead Samples
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). HAI Prevalence Survey.
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (n.d.). How to Protect Yourself from Needlestick Injuries.
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (1999). Alert: Preventing Needlestick Injuries in Health Care Settings.
- Texas Department of State Health Services. (2015). Texas Childhood Blood Lead Screening Guidelines.
- Texas Department of State Health Services. (2016). Newborn Screening Specimen Collection Requirements.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Laboratory Services Section. (2014). LabGuides Tutorials.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Laboratory Services Section. (2017). Laboratory Testing Services Manual.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Laboratory Services Section. (2016). Texas Health Steps: Specimen Collection and Handling.
- The Hospital for Sick Children. (2017). Blood Work: Helping Your Child Get Ready.
- University of Cincinnati Health Laboratory policy SC027.2: Venipuncture, Pediatric.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2010). Bloodborne Pathogens and Needlestick Prevention, Publication No. 2000-135.
The medical definition in this module was obtained from the Mayo Clinic.
- Related courses
Texas Health Steps Guidance
Texas Health Steps Guidance
Anticipatory Guidance
Anticipatory guidance—age-appropriate education and counseling—is a required component of every Texas Health Steps preventive medical and dental checkup. Texas Health Steps offers age-appropriate education and counseling topics so providers can assist patients, families, and caregivers to understand growth, development, and healthy practices. Texas Health Steps recommends that health-care providers personalize anticipatory guidance depending on the needs of their patients. Anticipatory guidance topics should be individualized and prioritized based on questions and concerns of the child or adolescent and their parent or guardian. Specific guidance should also be based on findings obtained during the health history and physical exam.
Texas Health Steps offers Anticipatory Guidance-A Guide for Providers, which includes guidance topics for every age group birth through 20 years. It mirrors anticipatory guidance topics included on the Texas Health Steps Child Health Clinical Record Forms.
Care for Caregivers
Families and caregivers of children with chronic medical conditions face complex challenges and extended stress. Providing long-term care for a child with a disability or chronic illness can take a physical, emotional, and financial toll. It also requires a time commitment that can be difficult to achieve.
As a pediatric health-care provider, you "have a responsibility to recognize caregiver burden (Adelman, Tmanova, Delgado, Dion & Lachs, 2014). Research has shown that caregivers are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, and other negative health effects of what can be a crushing responsibility. At each pediatric checkup, make it part of your routine to inquire whether family or caregivers have questions or concerns about their roles, their own health, or navigating the health-care system.
The health of your young patients and the health of their caregivers are interwoven.
Caregivers who feel overwhelmed may not be able to provide appropriate care for a child in need. You must be alert to outcries for help or signs of health problems related to caregiving, including loss of sleep and diet imbalance. Open communication allows you to be a sounding board for caregivers who are struggling with their duties. At the same time, be on the watch for signs of fatigue or stress in caregivers who try to project an "all's well" attitude even when they are having problems.
Your role includes providing practical counseling about stress and offering resources designed to help families and caregivers cope.
Top 10 Caregiver Coping Skills
Sharing this Top Ten list of coping skills can help caregivers learn strategies that may reduce stress:
- Understand your feelings.
- Express your emotions.
- Educate yourself about your child's illness or condition.
- Keep communications open.
- Talk to other parents.
- Focus on the strengths and goals that are achievable.
- Believe in your child.
- Establish routines.
- Maintain your sense of humor! There is no co-pay for laughter!!
- Remember that taking care of yourself is caring for your family.
Source: Parent to Parent of New York State
Resources to share with families and caregivers
Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) operated by Texas Health and Human Services (Texas HHS). The centers are welcoming and offer information about state and federal health benefits as well as local programs and services. The trained staff can connect caregivers with services such as home care, meals, transportation, legal help, attendant care, respite support, and housing. Visit the ADRC website for a list of resource center locations in Texas.
Family Support Services, a program to help families care for children with special health-care needs at home. Services are provided by the Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Services Program, a branch of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
National Alliance for Caregiving.
Navigate Life Texas, a multilingual website created by parents for parents of children with disabilities and special health-care needs. This unique site offers comprehensive, relevant, and reliable information for families, professionals, advocates, and anyone working with children who have disabilities and their families. Sponsored by the Texas Interagency Task Force on Children with Special Needs.
Take Time Texas, a website offered by Texas HHS that includes a state inventory of respite services.
Texas Parent to Parent offers peer support for parents of children with special health-care needs.
Case Management Services (how to make referrals)
Provider Referrals
All Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) provide case management services (called service management for STAR members with special health-care needs). In the other Medicaid managed care programs, everyone gets some level of case management. Patients should first be referred to the plan's service coordinator and then referred to Case Management for Children and Pregnant Women if patient needs cannot be met by the plan's services. Health plans are also required to make appropriate referrals to case management services.
For patients enrolled in STAR Medicaid, STAR Health, or Fee-For-Service (FFS) Medicaid, providers can make a referral by one of these methods:
- Calling 877-847-8377 (877-THSteps).
- Contacting a case manager ("Find a Case Manager" web page accessed from the Resources for this module).
- Submitting the Case Management Referral Form (the form is also accessed from Resources).
For patients enrolled in STAR Kids:
- Health Plan service coordinators and others can refer by submitting the STAR Kids Case Management Request Form (the form is also accessed from Resources).
Early Childhood Intervention
Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) is a statewide program for families with children birth through 35 months who have disabilities and developmental delays. All health-care providers are required by federal and state regulations to refer children 35 months and younger to the local ECI program as soon as possible but no later than seven days after the suspicion or identification of a developmental delay.
To qualify for ECI services, a child must have:
- A qualifying medically diagnosed condition that has a high probability of resulting in a developmental delay. For more information, visit the ECI Qualifying Diagnosis Search web page.
- An auditory or visual impairment as defined by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) rule at 10 TAC Section 89.1040.
- A documented delay of at least 25 percent in one or more of the following areas of skills and development: gross motor, communication, cognition, fine motor, social, emotional, or self-help. Or, a documented delay of at least 33 percent when the delay occurs only in expressive language.
- A qualitative determination of delay, as indicated by responses or patterns that are disordered or qualitatively different from what is expected for the child's age.
To refer a child, providers should use the ECI Provider Referral and Feedback form. The form, which requires a parent or guardian signature, helps ensure that ECI's evaluation results and service plan are shared with the referring provider.
To refer families for services, providers can call the local ECI program.
Medical Checkup Documentation
Texas Health Steps requires that all federal- and state-mandated checkup components be documented in the medical record in order for the checkup to be considered complete and to qualify for provider reimbursement. Any checkup component that is not completed must be noted in the medical record, along with the reason it was not completed and a plan to complete it. The medical record must also contain documentation of all screening tools used, screening results, and referrals. Texas Health Steps child health clinical record forms are optional but are recommended to assist providers with documentation of all required checkup components. Providers should be aware that Texas Health Steps checkups are subject to retrospective review and recoupment if the medical record does not include all required documentation.
Medical Home
A medical home is the patient's primary point of contact when accessing health care. The medical home concept was developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and is promoted by Texas Health Steps. A medical home is defined as one in which care is accessible, family-centered, continuous, comprehensive, compassionate, coordinated, and culturally effective. It is a partnership between a child, the family or caregiver, and the child's primary health-care setting. The primary health-care setting can be a physician's office, a hospital outpatient clinic, a school health center, a community health center, or a health department clinic.
Extensive medical home information and resources are available from AAP's National Center for Medical Home Implementation.
Referral Resources
Providers who need assistance finding a specialist or subspecialist who accepts patients enrolled in Medicaid can find a specialist or subspecialist by using the Texas Medicaid & Healthcare Partnership (TMHP) Online Provider Lookup or by calling the Texas Health Steps toll-free help line for providers at 800-964-2777 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time. Select option 3 to speak with a representative.
Required and Recommended Forms
Providers can access a set of child health clinical record forms to document Texas Health Steps preventive medical checkups. The set includes a form for each checkup under the Texas Health Steps Periodicity Schedule, for patients from up to 5 days old through 20 years. Providers can save or print the forms.
Each form includes the required components for that age's checkup, along with space for documenting routine, non-required components of a medical checkup. The backside of the form includes a helpful list of suggested anticipatory guidance topics and checklists such as the Hearing Checklist for Parents and Lead Risk Factors.
Download these forms on the DSHS Texas Health Steps Provider Forms web page.
Download the current Periodicity Schedule from the DSHS Texas Health Steps Provider Information web page.
Role of Texas Health Steps
Texas Health Steps is the preventive care services program for children birth through 20 years who are enrolled in Medicaid. Texas Health Steps provides regular checkups and screenings as part of the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment program, also known as EPSDT.
In Texas, EPSDT is known as Texas Health Steps, which includes the preventive care components—or Early and Periodic Screening (EPS)—of the total EPSDT service. Required medical checkups and preventive care services are provided in accordance with the latest Texas Health Steps Periodicity Schedule, which is modeled after the one developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Additional checkup components are required in Texas to meet federal and state guidelines, and checkups are encouraged as part of the medical home. The Periodicity Schedule specifies when each of the checkup components is due. Providers should always refer to the latest schedule available. To download a PDF of the Periodicity Schedule online, visit the Texas Health Steps Provider Information web page.
Texas Medicaid Providers Policy Manual (TMPPM)
The Texas Medicaid & Healthcare Partnership (TMHP) updates the TMPPM monthly. The policy updates are published on the TMHP website and in banner messages, which appear weekly on a provider's Remittance and Status Report as well as on the website. Providers can find updates on the web page in two ways:
Release Notes—Changes to the TMPPM arranged by date, with most recent at the top of the list.
Change History—Changes to the TMPPM arranged by chapter. (If a chapter has not changed, it will not appear on the list).
NOTE: Providers should always check the TMHP website for the current TMPPM, banner messages, and policy and procedures updates. Archived versions of the TMPPM will remain online for reference purposes.


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Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and empty out your piggy bank. You really thought there'd be more quarters in this thing. And why did someone jam six paperclips in here? Who's the wiseacre?! LET'S GO!
PERSONS UNKNOWN – 10:00PM (NBC) Now this is intriguing. It's a real, live miniseries. You don't see those on network television much anymore. Before you chalk this one up as a summer burnoff, keep in mind this one was created by Christopher McQuarrie, who won an Oscar for writing "The Ususal Suspects" and also wrote and directed "The Way Of The Gun," a movie I loved every second of. The premise of the show is that a group of people are abducted and then abandoned in a ghost town. Then weird stuff happens. It's just like "Kid Nation," without the ethical entanglements. Also, it has Alan Ruck. That guy could be in the next James Cameron movie and he'd still be Cameron to me. ANTICIPATION: HOPEFUL!
LAST COMIC STANDING – 8:00PM (NBC) The summer reality competition premieres tonight with new host Craig Robinson. People, I implore you to NOT vote for theme comics. Do not vote for that fat comic who always makes jokes about being fat, or that Indian comic who always makes jokes about being Indian, or that Southern comic who always makes jokes about trying to iron his grandma's skin. Theme comics are lammmme. ANTICIPATION: WHO ARE THE AD WIZARDS WHO CAM UP WITH THIS ONE?
INTERVENTION – 9:00PM (NBC) Tonight's addict of choice is a talented cellist. And I, for one, really hope he uses the haunting power of his preferred instrument to score his own descent into addiction. Everything is more dramatic with a cello playing underneath. ANTICIPATION: YAYO MA!
VH1 HIP HOP HONORS – 8:00PM (VH1) Because really, who best to honor hip hop legends than the channel that spent the bulk of its childhood playing Bette Midler videos? Tonight, VH1 honors the "Dirty South" by inducting(?) Master P and Luther Campbell and 2 Live Crew. You can tell white people arranged this celebration because Luther Campbell and Master P might very well be the two worst rappers that have ever existed. Spencer Pratt has a better flow than Luther ever did. ANTICIPATION: HEYYYYY WE WANT SOME TROOOOOPHIES!
WHEN I WAS 17 – 8:00PM (MTV) MTV interviews celebrities about when they were 17 and asks them if it was, indeed, a very good year. Tonight you hear from Olympic champ Evan Lysacek, along with Kourtney Kardashian. At 17, Evan was sequestered away at figure skating academy and Kourtney was paying for bottle service at various Miami nightclubs. Really relatable, those two. ANTICIPATION: DADDY SAYS SHE'S TOO YOUNG BUT SHE'S OLD ENOUGH FOR ME!
Monday Watch List: Honoring The Greatness Of… Luther Campbell?!
Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and empty out your piggy bank. You really thought there'd be more quarters in this thing. And why did someone jam six paperclips in here? Who's the wiseacre?! LET'S GO!

subset: commoncrawl


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Dear Doctor,
You can download and use these inspirational books for your personal use as such without any modification. But please give the authors the credit they deserve and do not change the author's name.
An appeal :If any of you have these type of books or links in your collection please mail to us : firstname.lastname@example.com
How to prepare entire Kerala foods
The Changing World – Azim Premji Chairman, Wipro Corporation
Transforming India into an Economic Power and a Developed Nation – i Watch


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Located just 8 minutes east of Calgary in Chestermere, Sweet Talk Stables is the perfect private family environment for both the horse and rider. At Sweet Talk Stables you have access to our 70x230 heated indoor riding arena, watch from the heated viewing room. When the weather is just right you can ride in our large outdoor riding arena, use the round pen or go for a cross country ride. We are so close that Starbucks, Tims and Safeway are only 5 minutes away. Now that's roughing it!
Sweet Talk Stables
Entrance to Sweet Talk
From Range Road 275
Sweet Talk Front Entrance
Outdoor round pen with holding (demo) pen attached.
From one of the picnic areas looking at the stable
Box stalls close up view
Starting out in the main barn, large centre isle, you turn right at the end to get to the tack up area and arena.
In this photo you can see around the corner to the tack up area with more box stalls and when you walk around the corner the entrance to the indoor arena.


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By Craig Shelburne, Sonos Co-Founder + General Counsel
Twelve years ago, I was fortunate enough to join the initial team at Sonos that set out to reinvent home audio. We believed this could be achieved by marrying software, audio hardware and online music services, and we've focused exclusively on this mission since day one. The result? We created an entirely new category of speakers that are wireless and multi-room. During this time, we've developed numerous key inventions, displayed in our products and explained in detail through more than 200 patent filings. For many years, we felt alone in our mission, but always knew a time would come when that would change.
Today, wireless speakers and systems represent the fastest growing segment in home audio. The market has seen numerous new entrants, from start-ups you've possibly never heard of to bigger brands you might know. This is great news for consumers because more competition should only improve everyone's experience with music at home.
Our patents reveal to the public key foundational elements we created that enhance the music experience in the home. We know that others can – and will – benefit from the time, energy and investment we have put into our patented inventions, not to mention our products themselves. And we welcome that learning, but with an honorable caveat: use it to create differentiated products, rather than merely incorporating or copying our invention without our permission. While we recognize the existence of abuses in the marketplace that cross this ethical line, we still believe patents can and should be used for the benefit of all – by helping accelerate innovation.
Looking ahead, in the interests of being transparent and eliminating surprises, we will be 'forward-publishing' our patent applications well before they are available to the public (which is usually 18 months after the patent application). We are doing this for anyone or any company that might be interested in the patents we are seeking.
We will do this for all patent filings going forward – with one obvious exception: applications that cover inventions that are not yet in publicly available Sonos products. Our website, https://www.sonos.com/legal/terms/#patents, provides a link for all of our published U.S. patents and patent applications. Over time, this link will also include our forward published applications as the USPTO updates its database. In addition, we will endeavor to include similar links for our non-U.S. patents.
To our loyal listeners, many thanks for your continued support. You can always count on us to continue working hard on more exciting innovations that will help fill your home with music like never before.


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caruso_stalker217 wrote:
This will make, like, no money.
Devin Faraci wrote:I don't fully understand this trailer.
TheButcher wrote:They Should Have Led With This TERMINATOR GENISYS TrailerDevin Faraci wrote:I don't fully understand this trailer.
Spandau Belly wrote:Michael Bay's movies trailerize like nobody's business. He always gets tons of really dynamic shots in his movies and so the trailers look great, and they're louder and brighter than whatever came before or after them on tv.
Most of his movies show no ability to build a plot, a character, a scene, or anything really longer than a moment; but moments is all a trailer needs. Every time I see the trailer for one of his movies I get excited and think it looks good and then have to remind myself it's Michael Bay. So I can at least see why he's consistently a king of the box office compared to the mixed success rate of other loud dumb expensive movies.
Every Frame a Painting wrote:There are filmmakers we love and then there's Michael Bay. Even if you dislike him (as I do), Bay has something valuable to teach us about visual perception. This is an exploration of "Bayhem" — his style of camera movement, composition and editing that creates something overblown, dynamic and distinct.
Fievel wrote:TheButcher wrote:They Should Have Led With This TERMINATOR GENISYS TrailerDevin Faraci wrote:I don't fully understand this trailer.
I believe that I agree with every line Faraci wrote there.
Spandau Belly wrote:Maybe they can work a Terrence Malick installment into their current plans for the franchise.
Jesse Eisenberg in DR. SILBERMAN: A MOST DANGEROUS METHOD
Michael B. Jordan in MILES DYSON: THE ROAD TO SKYNET
GOTHAM-style tv series about Detective Hal Vukovich's days on the force before the Terminator case
untitled Kyle Reese and Ginger-With-Mullet team-up flick
Prequel movie depicting the gang war between the punks and bikers from whom The Terminator steals his outfits
so sorry wrote:
So there goes and tension in the first film on whether or not Arnold survives. Unless the sequel has yet another Arnold returning from the future. Sigh...
TheButcher wrote:so sorry wrote:
So there goes and tension in the first film on whether or not Arnold survives. Unless the sequel has yet another Arnold returning from the future. Sigh...
Sorry about the spoiler.
so sorry wrote:TheButcher wrote:so sorry wrote:
So there goes and tension in the first film on whether or not Arnold survives. Unless the sequel has yet another Arnold returning from the future. Sigh...
Sorry about the spoiler.
No my comment was aimed at Arnold, not you. I was so looking forward to him giving me the "thumb's up" again as he died heroically, thus showing me that he had really learned what it meant to be human (again).
Spandau Belly wrote:Maybe they can work a Terrence Malick installment into their current plans for the franchise.
Jesse Eisenberg in DR. SILBERMAN: A MOST DANGEROUS METHOD
Michael B. Jordan in MILES DYSON: THE ROAD TO SKYNET
GOTHAM-style tv series about Detective Hal Vukovich's days on the force before the Terminator case
untitled Kyle Reese and Ginger-With-Mullet team-up flick
Prequel movie depicting the gang war between the punks and bikers from whom The Terminator steals his outfits
Fievel wrote:I think it makes the film appear to make more sense reading it straight across with the redaction!
Ribbons wrote:Fievel wrote:I think it makes the film appear to make more sense reading it straight across with the redaction!
I, too, like the theory that John Connor is a thing and a thing is sent back in time. Seems pretty sound.
Spandau Belly wrote:Reese tells John "You and me are done professionally."
merrick wrote:Considering how poorly promotion for the picture has unfolded thus far, I find this move a bit crass and suspect.
Spandau Belly wrote:I get that everybody's scrambling to find some ulterior motive for Cameron endorsing this movie. He's prettymuch impossible to bribe because he already has everything. This movie isn't even being made by his home studio of Fox, so it's not like he's going to bat for the team. The only thing I could think of is that he is still good friends with Schwarzenegger and is being charitable because he knows Arnie could really use a hit. But honestly, I'm going to take him at face value and believe that he sincerely likes the film ..... and still not bother seeing it myself.
headgeek wrote:
(NOTE: This review deals with a lot of heavy spoilers for the film - because the results of those spoilers are just fucking insanity that I had to talk about as a Terminator fan. However, if you want no spoilers, know that the film is good spirited fun, is likely to turn you upside down on your head for a bit, and is very definitely the 3rd best in the series behind the two James Cameron films. Now - watch out for spoilers and continue:)
Devin Faraci wrote:Jai Courtney is a disaster as Kyle Reese; he's wrong in every way, having none of the weary soldier qualities that Michael Biehn brought to the role. Courtney is the new Sam Worthington, who was the new Gretchen Mol, who was the new person whose name I forget because these are forgettable actors foisted upon us by the weird Hollywood hive mind. There are make-up techniques designed to baffle facial recognition software and Jai Courtney seems to have been designed with that in mind - he's an actor who passes through your brain like a fart in a wind tunnel. Just poof, gone.
Pamela McClintock wrote:Terminator: Genisys — which never expected Jurassic World to still be so strong — placed No. 3 Friday with $10.8 million for an estimated three-day weekend in the $28 million range and five-day debut of roughly $43 million, a poor start that threatens the revival of the storied franchise.
Genisys clearly has far more at stake, considering its $155 million production budget. Paramount and David Ellison's Skydance partnered on the film, which had hoped to at least hit $55 million in its North American launch. Instead, it has been hampered by poor reviews and a B+ CinemaScore.
Carolyn Giardina wrote:The specific challenge of creating a CG Schwarzenegger was handed to Technicolor-owned visual effects house MPC.
"I pretty much thought this was an absolutely insane task," admitted MPC VFX supervisor Sheldon Stopsack when he was first given the assignment. "Digital humans are considered the holy grail in VFX, and then combining that task with such an iconic figure was probably increasing the difficulty by a hundred if not a thousand. [But there was also] a fascination and something appealing to it."
MPC, which recently worked on Cinderella and X-Men: Days of Future Past among other projects, knew it had to step up its game. "The young Arnold [as he looked in 1984] doesn't exist anymore; he has aged," Stopsack noted, explaining that they therefore ruled out approaches such as a cyber scan or shooting reference photography of the actor.
The key was research, lots and lots of research. "We started to research what Arnold looked like (and moved like) in 1984; we tried to get our hands on every single piece of footage that we could, [as well as] photography and books. Luckily he was such as iconic figure that he was well documented." A key reference was also the 1977 bodybuilding docudrama Pumping Iron, which featured Schwarzenegger.
Referencing their research, MPC then started to model the character in the computer. "We were also lucky enough to receive a cast that was taken of him in 1984, which was a great starting point, but it didn't have the detail of a cyber scan that you could get these days," Stopsack said.
For the facial animation, they used performance capture with SciTech Award-winning system Mova. "Arnold Schwarzenegger made himself available for a performance capture session. He performed the lines," Stopsack explained.
But he added that for facial expressions or fight shots, performance capture from the actor today probably would not have been anatomically accurate. "His appearance has changed, obviously," he said. "We set up a library of individual expressions and body movements (based on the research) and associated these with each individual shot. So body movement was hand animated; performance capture was really only used for the dialog.
We had a stunt double, Brett Azar, as a stand in to help with the choreography in the principal photography and we replaced him with a CG version of young Arnold," Stopsack added.
It's often said that creating active eyes is among the most difficult aspects of work on a CG human. Was it therefore an advantage that the T-800 is a cyborg? "We thought it would be, but the reality is it wasn't," Stopsack said. "As robotic as his character was, there were a lot of subtleties that made Arnold's performance. [We had to] create it like a human acting like a machine."
"Eyes are a huge part of it," he continued. "At the same time, every other subtlety of the face becomes equally important. If you don't have enough detail in the mouth area or the lips or twitches, the whole character falls apart. … It came down to making sure the subtleties [were there] in all parts of the face and body. If anything was falling behind it was noticeable almost immediately and the character wouldn't be believable anymore."
Erik Sofge wrote:When Arnold Schwarzenegger's face appears onscreen in Terminator Salvation, it's precisely as it should be: wide, menacing and trapped in 1983. If the first three Terminator films were a flipbook portrait of an action star entering middle age, the fourth installment resets the iconic actor's cinematic clock with a climactic fight scene that blends the latest digital effects with a prosthetic prop that's been shelved for a quarter-century. The result is the resurrection of the killer robot that launched a franchise—and a feat of time travel that's worth the price of admission.
If the cameo has a death mask quality to it, there's a reason—the basis of the digital model wasn't Benjamin Button-esque retrofit of Schwarzenegger's present-day face, but a life mask created in 1983 by Stan Winston Studios. "We dug out our original cast from the first Terminator movie, and created a new, cleaned-up, properly textured life-size bust," says John Rosengrant, the animatronics and special makeup effects supervisor for Terminator Salvation. Rosengrant has worked on all of the Terminator movies, and his company, Legacy Effects, is essentially a renamed version of Stan Winston Studios (the name is a reference to Winston, the legendary visual effects wizard who died last year). Although Salvation director McG told the Los Angeles Daily News that "it's the Schwarzenegger created from the scans from the first picture," Rosengrant points out that taking 3D scans wasn't an option 25 years ago, when the state-of-the-art in prosthetics required building a cast of Arnold's head out of dental alginate. Along with that vintage lifemask, Legacy had inherited extensive photographic reference of Schwarzenegger from 1983, taken to help Winston's team recreate accurate details (such as eyebrows, hair and skin tone).
Rosengrantz sent those photos, as well as castings taken of the new bust his team created, to Industrial Light & Magic, which handled the movie's digital effects. That period-accurate reference, he believes, helped create a visual that's as effective as it is unnerving. "I was trained as more of a traditional artist, and sculptor, and portraiture is always about the sum of the parts and the details," Rosengrant says. "If you don't have everything landing in the right place, any mistakes become monumental. And that becomes magnified when you're dealing with a face that's as recognizable as Arnold's."
This combination of traditional and computer-generated effects is more clear-cut in some of the movie's other robots, such as the T-600 android, an even bulkier predecessor to the bodybuilder-size T-800. Legacy created a fully animatronic, 7-ft. 4-in. T-600 for some shots, as well as a costume that featured blue-screened sections, which ILM turned into see-though gaps in the robot's clothing and rubbery flesh. Rosengrant's team also used blue-screen strips in Marcus Wright's (Sam Worthington) makeup, again allowing metallic components to be digitally inserted. But in a movie full of new, lethal robots, from swimming, insectoid "hydro-bots" to a towering humanoid model that stuffs humans into an airborne cattle car, it's the return of the T-800 that inspires real dread. That Arnold's Cold War-era face doesn't utter a word is all the better—science fiction's best impression of the Grim Reaper is back. And, for once, he doesn't have to announce it.
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